SOURCE: Broughton, Trev. “Taking a Battering.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4854 (12 April 1996): 24.

In the following review, Broughton examines the patterns of abuse and their effect on the protagonist in The Woman Who Walked into Doors.

Even before the massive success of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Roddy Doyle's 1993 Booker Prize winner, he had become a household name, bringing a new virtuosity to Dublin bar-room repartee. In his latest book, Doyle could scarcely be accused of playing to a winning formula. Gone is the gallery of rascally kids, tarts with hearts and game, foul-mouthed old bollixes. Gone too are the set pieces: the world set to rights over a plate of egg and chips and an episode of The Virginian; the glorious pintfests down the Hikers bar. The Woman Who Walked into Doors is a darker work, punctuated not by Doyle's characteristically racy dialogue, but by long interior monologues in...